The Concept of ‘Artwork’ in Artistic Item Cataloging

Abstract

This text addresses an issue in the cataloging of fine arts collections in Mexico, particularly those that belong to the federal government or that are under guardianship of the State, and bear or might be assigned the category of ‘artworks’. Documents by the Superior Audit of the Federation (Auditoría Superior de la Federación) have consistently pointed out that the cataloging of such objects lags behind schedule. Such delay can be explained, at least partially, by the use of legal criteria, in which polysemy, theoretical definitions, management needs or cultural customs create unsolved ambiguity in stating object ‘types’. Since ‘type’ entails a crucial disjunction in the cultural heritage sphere, its lack of precision ends up begetting incoherence in modern digital systems. The conclusion of this paper discusses the convenience of making Type a repeating field and the possibility of including some metadata to properly define ‘types’, while warning about the consequences and difficulties of building a system too complex.